Elaine's Animal Crossing Adventure
by JaniceShaglock
Summary: Join Elaine as she enters the world of Animal Crossing and embarks on a quest for true friends, real opportunities, and a treasure like no other.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Nook's Expectations

The human arrived on the train with the bare minimum: a bag of photos and just a bit of money in hand. It sat down at the only available seat – across from a burnt orange cat.

"Greetings!" the cat chattered. "My name is Dennis. What is your name?"

"My name is Elaine," she answered.

"Ooh, that's a beautiful name!' Dennis responded.

"Oh, thank you!" she answered.

The cat purred. "So, where are you going?"

"I'm headed to Cattington Falls," Elaine replied.

"REALLY?" The cat's eyes popped. "I know someone there who can set you right up with a house and a nice job." Before Elaine could stop him, he had disappeared behind the boxcar door. She could see him chattering on the phone. When he returned, he was aglow with news. "That was Tom Nook. He's the owner of Nook's Cranny, and he'll set you up with a house when you get there."

The train's horn blares and the train roars to a stop.

"OK, bye now," Dennis says, as Elaine heads out of the train, thinking, _How did I get into this?_

Okay, so by the time Nook had set her up with a small house with an orange roof and a work plan, she felt even worse about the whole situation. She began to wish she had not sat by that cat. But here was Nook now, with some new instructions.

Elaine worked all the rest of that day. Just as darkness approached, Nook told her to come back in the morning and start on a new job. Then he sent her off.

That next morning, Elaine returned. She did the various jobs that were asked of her, and when she had finished – with still a lot of money to pay back for the house! - Nook sent her off to ask the neighbors if they needed any work done. (He seemed to think it would do her a great good.)

Elaine knocked on the door of the first house she found – a pretty pink one with a rose garden. She entered, and the animal she saw inside was a pig. She walked up to it.

"Oh!" the pig squeaked in fright. "Hello, my name is Umbra. Who are you, sweetums?"

"I'm Elaine," Elaine answered. "Do you need anything?"

Umbra shook her head no and waddled away. Elaine moved onto the next house, but before she arrived she realized that she badly wanted to go home and eat. Besides, if Nook really wanted her to run some impressive errands, she had to build up her energy. She turned back and ran to her little house by the train station. Soon she was inside and enjoying a nice peach.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Finally Some Time Off!

After a few days of gruesome work, Nook finally let Elaine off.

"On one condition," he chattered. "You _must_ continue to run errands for the neighbors."

Elaine smiled and dashed off to begin her explorations. She desired to run along the southern edge of the town, where there was a beach and a small pattern store owned by two sisters. She wanted to dance along under the trees and eat apples all day.

Mostly, she was glad to be away from that old grumbler of a Nook.

So she took to the edge of the lake, crossing bridges and the like, knowing that the sea would be waiting for her at the end of her yellow brick road. She was right; and the sea was so gorgeous! She ran forward and collected seashells and cherished them as she held them in her hands. She plucked up the courage to dance around the police station and make fun conversation with the guard stationed there.

She had nearly forgotten about her duty to Nook, but that was the least of her worries. Right now, she was content where she was – standing at the shore, as the tide washed up with sprays of white on the waves' crests. Yes, she wanted to be here now.

The sound of coughing startled her out of her happiness. As she looked on, an old pelican washed up onto the sand. "Girl!" he called to her. "Girl!"

Dumbfounded, she rushed to help him onto dry ground. He sputtered and coughed, and it was only then that Elaine realized what he was. The white-and-red-striped shirt said it all: a seaman! She gaped at him.

He studied her speculatively. "Come here," he said gruffly.

She approached him warily.

"If you can answer this riddle of mine, I will entrust you with a special quest."

Elaine continued to stare at him. "A... a riddle?"

"Yes, and here it is," he replied. "'I have leaves but they are square. Small things may enter me through three ways. What am I?'"

Elaine fumbled in her mind for the answer. _I have leaves but they are square...._ That was an odd thing to say. Trees and flowers had leaves, but they could not be entered... could they?

Her mind reeled, and for a moment, she was lost in anxiety, for she dearly hoped to go on this quest. Then she could return to Nook with the pride over running her first errand for someone – even though he wasn't her neighbor.

She thought back to something her mother had said once: "This is a book, Elaine. You read books. See, it has a spine, which closes the book all up. And it has three sides where you can see the pages.... Oh, look! Ants have gotten into it! They''ve gotten into the leaves!"

"Those aren't _leaves_, mama. Those are _pages_."

"No, dear. People used to call pages leaves, in the olden-times."

Elaine beamed at the pelican. "A book has leaves and three sides through which little creatures like ants can enter."

The pelican nodded intuitively. "Well, then, Elaine," he smiled. He bent his beak low to her ear and whispered, "I will trust you with my secret."

Elaine stood outside of the train station, wondering at how her life had changed, just with that short meeting with the sea-pelican.

"Come, follow me," he'd said. He indicated that they should enter her house, where they would not be overheard. So she led him there, her arms prickling with nerves all the way.

When they entered, the pelican pulled her aside, and he said, "I have a treasure that must be found. I buried it twenty years ago, and now I want it to be taken to the museum, here in Cattington Falls. I was born here and I would like my legend to stay here."

"What must I do?" Elaine asked.

"You must buy a train ticket and hop onto the first train out of here. Don't mind where you end up, because I have left my clues all over these parts."

"Don't you know where it is yourself?" Elaine questioned, wodering why he couldn't just go and get it himself.

'Ahh, but I want it to be _found_."

So here she was, ready to board a train, after just arriving. As she stood there, she wondered, _Where will I end up?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: All Alone, in a Brand New World

Elaine sat on the molding train seats and tried not to think about how ironic it was that she was boarding a train to a brand new place after arriving at her new home – and that she was sitting right next to another talkative animal.

"So, cheerio," the frog said. "What are you on this plane – er, train, eh?"

Elaine forced herself to answer, "I am arriving at a new destination."

"You look lost," he mumbled, in the same chattering way as everyone else in this world did.

_I feel lost_, she thought, but she said nothing. She wished she could be at some other place – preferably, in her new cottage, dressing up to work for that crazy old Nook. But that seemed miles away now, and she knew she would not be going back any time soon.

_"Look for the clues," the old seabird had said. "Once you alight off the train, you will find one of my most recent clues in the map by the train station. It is a new landmark in this region: a tall hill, if you will."_

Elaine sighed, frustrated. Not only was this very mysterious, but she was afraid that the old duck was misleading her: that perhaps he had the intention of breaking into her house after she had gone and taking the few possessions she had left there.

"ALL PASSENGERS TO KNOTT TRAIN STATION IN five minutes!" called the attendant, who stood at the front of the train car.

Elaine gulped. She knew that she was rising up and beyond her own limits here. She was afraid, but she had no choice.

And as the train pulled into the station, she knew that she was all alone.


End file.
